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The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) and the Moroccan Poultry Association (known as FISA) sponsored the first in a series of training programs for West African poultry producers this month in Casablanca, with FISA and the Senegalese Poultry Association further cementing their relationship through a new memorandum of cooperation.

A recent sale of U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) to Saudi Arabia is an example of an increasingly diverse number of markets interested in the feed product and the impact of sustained market development in areas showing potential for long-term growth.

Last month, Saudi buyers purchased 18,000 metric tons of U.S. DDGS, a relatively large amount and a dramatic increase from total sales of just 8,400 metric tons in 2014.

In 2016, the United States was again the world’s largest net exporter of ethanol, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) trade data and as demonstrated in this U.S. Grains Council (USGC) chart of note.

Net exports are calculated as the difference between exports and imports. The 2016 calendar year concluded with U.S. net exports of 838 million gallons, the second highest level ever, exceeded only in 2011. U.S. ethanol shipments exceeded 1 billion gallons, and incoming shipments totaled nearly 215 million gallons in 2016.

The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) presented a roadmap for increasing the production, use and trade of ethanol as a transport fuel across the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region during meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, this week.

U.S. Grains Council (USGC) officers and key staff traveled throughout India and Myanmar last month to examine the potential for development and U.S. grain sales in those growing and complex markets.

USGC Chairman Chip Councell, a farmer from Maryland, and Vice Chairman Deb Keller, a farmer from Iowa, also had the opportunity to help open a new dairy research and training facility in Kaira District with a uniquely Indian tradition of cracking the coconut before revealing a plaque naming the building.

New engagement by U.S. Grains Council (USGC) staff and members in South Africa over the past year has helped achieve export victories there, with recent sales of U.S. sorghum and biotechnology trait approvals that will allow imports of U.S. corn.

In 2015 and 2016, as a result of El Nino, the country suffered a severe drought, leading its feed industry to import U.S. corn for the first time in almost a decade. South Africa uses both yellow corn for animal feed and white corn for a staple food known locally as pap or mieliepap.

As the initial grant funding period for the U.S. Grains Council's (USGC) Food for Progress program in Tanzania approaches completion at the end of this year, the Council is looking ahead to an intensive and constructive 2017 program meant to ensure its ongoing success.

The Tanzania project launched in 2014 with the goals of promoting quality feed formulations for poultry; developing self-sufficient industry associations for poultry producers and feed manufacturers; and improving local broiler and layer production through training seminars.

Exports of U.S. ethanol are off to a strong start for the first quarter of the 2016/2017 marketing year and are at their highest levels during that time frame over the past five years, according to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS).

Exports totaled 353.2 million gallons for the months of September, October and November 2016, the first quarter of marketing year 2016/2017.

Grain trade experts from the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) visited Ireland and Israel late last year to meet with customers in those markets, which have become increasingly important if non-traditional importers of U.S. corn and co-products.

Ireland has imported 95,000 metric tons (3.7 million bushels) of U.S. corn in the first three months of this marketing year, which is nearly half the amount it imported the prior marketing year, 170,000 metric tons (6.7 million bushels). Israel imported 386,000 metric tons (15 million bushels) of U.S. corn in the last marketing year.

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